Improvement in water-wh eels



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES DENISTON, OF LANIER, OHIO.

IM PRovEMENT aN WATER-WH EELS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 4,471, dated April 25,1846.

To all whom z2 may concern.-

Be it known that I, JAMES DENIsToN, of Lanier township, in the countyofPreble and State of Ohio, have invented a new and Improved OonicalPercussion Water-Wheel; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull andeXact description ofthe construction and operation of the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of thisspecification.

To a fall of ten feet I would make a water- Wheel five feet in diameterat the top, three and three-fourths of a foot at the bottom, andtwenty-eight inches in depth, which I would secure to a vertical shaft.

I generally build my wheels as follows: I have a solid cone C, of wood,for their center and surround it at a suitable distance with a conicalhoopD, constructed of staves conned by iron bands. Into the spacebetween the cone vand the hoop I secure the iloats c c by itting theminto grooves in the solid cone and in the hoop. For a Wheel of vtheabove dimensions the floats should be nine inches wide at the top andseven inches at the bottom. The faces of the floats are of a concaveform, their lower ends inclining forward, the vertical section of whichshould be about, five inches below their upper ends. The curve of theiloats should be such -as to reach the bottom of the wheel at an angleof about fifteen degrees with the horizon. The inner edges ot' thefloats should be the segments of circles about one-eighth larger thanthe outer edge of the same, for the purpose of preventing their windin gand for bringing their front surfaces to a position at right angles withthe chutes.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical section of apenstock with my improved conical wheel under the same as arranged foruse. Fig. 2 is a perspective elevation of a water-wheel with a sectionof the outer rim or hoop broken out for the purpose of showing the formand arrangement of the iloats c c.

A is the penstock, under which the wheel is placed. The shaft B of thewater-wheel passes up through a water-tight tube or curb a, made fast tothe bottom of the penstock, which extends above the water-line.

b b are the chutes which admit the water to the floats c c of the wheelthrough the floor of the penstock. Any number of chutes may be used atonce that may be thought best. Instead of placing the chutes b b in adirection tangent with the circumference of the wheel, as is usuallydone, I place them in an oblique direction, pointing them inwardlytoward that point at which the water is discharged from the wheel, asnear as that point can be ascertained, so that the water will act in astraight line with the chute until the same is discharged.

In situations where there is avery high head of water and the requiredspeed ot the wheel is much slower than the speed of the water issuingfrom the chutes the greater should be the difference between the upperand lower diameters ot' the wheel, and in situations the reverse of thisthe wheel should taper less toward the bottom. In places subject tobackwater there should be a water-tight casing surrounding the wheelmade fast to the bottom of the penstock and open at the bottom. I wouldvary the height of my wheel to suit the head of water. For instance, fora head of water of ten feet I would build a wheel twenty-eight inches inheight, and increase it where the head of water was greater than thisand diminish it where it was less.

A Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

' l. The combination of the cone, conical hoop, and curved floats,substantially of the form and in the manner herein set forth, forthepurpose of forming a conical percussion waterwheel.

2. In combination with my improved waterwheel, the angle of inclinationand peculiar arrangement of the water-chutes,for the purpose ofproducing the action of the water upon the wheel, substantially asherein set forth.

JAMES DENISTON. Witnesses:

Z. C. RoBBINs, Tnos. H. BARLow.

